The purpose of this research is to develop a material, which can aid in the reduction of carbon emissions from buildings, to meet the 2050 targets of decarbonisation of the built environment

I will look to develop a low carbon and energy efficient material to help meet carbon reduction targets. This specific idea will look at phase change materials as a possible solution to this problem. Phase change materials can control temperature fluctuations and increase thermal mass in buildings thanks to their ability to store and release thermal energy during phase change processes (melting and freezing).

I will research methods of encapsulating PCMs and incorporating them in to the built environment. One existing method soaks commercial lightweight aggregates (LWA) in PCM. Therefore, the amount of PCM that the LWAs can host is limited by the latter's absorption capacity, which is low. I will look to explore more efficient ways to do this, by obtaining an optimal mix and design a construction material, which will reduce energy requirements to heat and cool both new and existing buildings. To do this, I will design novel highly porous granules, made from widely available by-products, which will host the PCM. Ultimately, the novel granules containing PCM could be incorporated into the built environment via panels in new buildings or as a render mortar as a retrofitting solution. The compatibility between granules and matrix, as well as thermal performance and other key properties will be investigated.

Objectives and Methodology:

The main aim of this project is to obtain an optimal mix, using PCMs, and design a construction material which will reduce energy requirements to heat and cool both new and existing buildings. To do this, the following objectives need to be achieved:

1. Identify suitable PCMs to be used for the target applications.
2. Explore different carriers to host the PCMs and compare their performance with existing commercially available products.
3. Design novel highly porous granules, with high storage capacity and made from widely available by-products, which will host the PCM.
4. Optimise coating methods for the aforementioned granules, as a way of maintaining their maximum storage capacity and avoid alteration of matrix properties, which will contain the granules.
5. Investigate different matrixes where the granules can be incorporated into the built environment and study the compatibility between granules and matrix, as well as thermal performance and other key properties.

This project will be mainly experimental, and will combine material science and building physics methods. However, it will get input from parallel research, which will be modelling the behaviour of these materials in the built environment. This will make possible, if enough progress has been made, to move to test the material in real scale, using the facilities at the Building Research Park, within the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials. This will allow me to improve the performance of the target construction materials, which will improve people's wellbeing by increasing thermal comfort for occupants in buildings and reducing energy demand in buildings.